Two Sets of Eyes
by echochaos
Summary: While using the Glowstick of Destiny might not have breached Tony's mind and turned him into a puppet, it did have side effects. Side effects neither would have ever expected as Tony learns just how much pain Loki truly has. Just maybe, his actions are founded, not right, but understandable. FrostIron! Tony and Loki, Post Avengers, Jotun!Loki
1. Chapter 1

Where else would Loki possibly want to open a portal? It _had_ to be Stark Tower. That was the only place in the entire city that fit the bill. The only place that would draw the amount of attention that madman so obviously craved. Tony would be damned, though, if he let that happen. Stark Tower was _his_ and no one messed with his things. If they did, they tended not to survive all that long.

Flying at top speed, Iron Man finally made it into viewing range and zoomed in his HUD. Sure enough, that's where Loki stood, a smirk on his face just wide enough to be seen.

"Sir, the Mark Xll is not ready for deployment." Jarvis informed him and it took everything Tony had not to groan.

"Then skip the spinning rims, we're on the clock."

Touchdown was smooth as usual and the entire platform reared up and began to disassemble his damaged suit, exactly as it was programed to. Tony hid a small smile as everything worked and flowed just as it should. He knew he looked impressive and anyone saying otherwise was lying. Maybe show that bastard who he's playing with.

Glancing over when the helmet was removed, Tony could barely make out the Tricksters smirk as he turned on heel and headed inside of his tower.

Of course, Tony definitely didn't want him to step foot inside, let alone come anywhere close to anything of his. He had to hold back that protective urge, his brown eyes narrowed, _Mine_! Instead of showing this, Tony set his face and braced himself for what he was about to do. Loki couldn't intimidate him and he would prove it to this self-titled 'God.'

Once inside, Loki spoke first, placing one foot in front of the other in an almost cat-like way. Even though he didn't watch his steps, he walked as if each was carefully thought out minutes before. which, in some ways, wouldn't surprise Tony at all.

The other man held his back perfectly straight with a regal air and his small smirk widened, becoming feral and sharp.

"Please tell me you're going to appeal to my humanity." He all but laughed. This was all a game to him, well, Tony would show him how you play this game. Loki was in _his_ tower, so now, it was his game.

Tony clasped his hands behind his back and turned to look over the railing at Loki. He took a couple sideways steps as he replied with, "Uh, actually, I'm planning on threatening you."

Loki's sharp smirk was all teeth as he pointed with his scepter, "You should have left your armor on for that."

"Yeah," Tony acknowledged, glancing down at his own feet for a second, hands still clasped comfortably behind his back. He seemed to ponder those words for just a second before before finishing his thought. "Seen a bit of mileage and you have the uh," It was Tony's turn to point at the other, "glowstick of destiny." His hands fell by his side as he took the last of the stairs down to the common area.

"Would you like a drink?" He asked, watching the smirk shift into amusement on the other's face. He switched his scepter into his other hand, his eyes lingering for a moment on the glowing stone at it's head. He shook his head just slightly.

"Stalling won't change anything."

Tony put up one finger, "Nonono, threatening." Before turning around to look at the bottles behind his bar. "No drink? You're sure?" Pointing once again, this time at the drinks he had.

Loki's silence didn't affect his choice of course, "I'm having one."

When Tony turned back around, with his drink of choice in hand, Loki was looking out the window. "The Chitauri are coming. Nothing can change that." The way he said those words surprised Tony, but he kept his face schooled. He almost sounded resigned, but that didn't add up. The aliens were his allies, right? There wasn't time to ponder that before the Trickster turned back around, looking Tony straight in the eye, something was just off about this whole part of the conversation. He even dropped his smirk. "What have I to fear?"

Tony looked back down at the glass bottle in his hands and filed this away for later. He pulled the stopper off the bottle, "The Avengers."

He glanced up quickly to see the look of confusion on Loki's face. His expression was almost laughing at the name, the humor back in Loki's green eyes.

Tony rolled his own eyes, "That's what we call ourselves." He gestured with the stopper as he began pouring himself his glass, "Sort of like a team. Earth's Mightiest Heros kind of thing."

"Yes, I've met them." The amused smirk was firmly back on Loki's face and Tony pulled one on to match. Two can play this game.

"Yeah, takes us a while to get any traction on that one, but let's do a headcount here. Your brother, the demigod." Loki rolled his eyes at this and turned to walk back to the window and Tony took that chance to grab the Mark Xll's scannable bracelets. He might just need them later, "The super soldier, the living legend that kind of lives up to the legend. A man with _breathtaking_ anger management issues, couple of master assassins and you!" Tony pointed right at Loki as the Trickster turns back around, trying to put that smirk back on his face. "You, big fella, have managed to piss off every single one of them."

Loki is pacing at this point and Tony was already seeing this as a small victory. He obviously wasn't comfortable, even with all that regal pose and bravado. "That was the plan." He said with a little head jerk.

Taking a sip of his drink, Tony replied with, "Not a great plan," and walking back around the bar.

"When they come, and they will, they'll come for you." Loki's face set and a small amount of anger broke through his mask.

"I have an army."  
"We have a hulk."

"Oh, I thought the beast had wandered off." He said, again gesturing with his scepter.

"You, you're missing the point." Tony was starting to get annoyed and he let this show through, wanting to throw the other off. Show him that he wasn't afraid, because he wasn't. Not even a bit. "There's no throne, no version of this where you come out on top."

He came to a stop about five feet from Loki he continued, " _Maybe_ your army comes and _maybe_ they're too much for us, but it's all on you. Because if we can't protect the earth, you can be damn well sure we'll avenge it." Just to be a dick, Tony takes another sip of his drink, his expression one of annoyance, but not of fear.

Loki began to take slow deliberate steps forward, a glare settling on his face and _oh, so scary._ "How will your friends have time for me," His anger and disgust reaching a boiling point. "When they are so busy fighting you."

Well fuck, hadn't been expecting this. Only a sliver of fear appeared on Tony's face. He forgot that Loki could do that mind control thing and damn this could ruin everything. Stupid!

The scepter began to hum as if it was heating up. As he took a half step back, Tony had nowhere to go. There was no way he could get away quick enough. Oh, miscalculation.

It glowed an unearthly blue as Loki raised it to chest level and the tip connected with the Arc Reactor.

Tony couldn't help the small flinch as a small amount of pain flooded his eyes. He winced ever so slightly, but his mind stayed his own. Barton told him what the mind control felt like. Maybe it didn't work.

The inventor quickly looked up at Loki's face and was relieved by the confusion there. So it didn't work. A bone deep ache settled inside him, but he shoved it away, again steeled his resolve. It hadn't worked. Was it because of his arc reactor? He couldn't reach Tony's heart? But his heart wasn't in the middle of his chest.

Loki raised his scepter once more and it glowed a second time as he reached out and jabbed Tony with it, this time the pain was double and it took everything he had not to show Loki with his expression.

He felt his insides turning to ice as his temperature seemed to drop. The blood in his veins froze and it took all his willpower to remain standing.

"This usually works," Those words were what pulled him out of his pain. He had to reply. He had to come up with something snarky.

"Well, performance issues… it's not uncommon. One out of five."

Loki snapped then and grabbed the inventor by the throat, throwing him across the room as if he weighed nothing at all.

Tony pushed the rest of the pain away, he might be very dead if the god decided to throw him out the window. "Jarvis," He said while standing back up, glancing at his wrists to reassure himself he had the bracelets on. "Any time now."

The second he was on his feet again, Loki again grabbed him, this time by the chin, smashing his face between his fingers. Oh, not good. The window was right behind him.

"You will all fall before me!"

"Deploy." Tony said, watching at the blue light turned on in the other room. Oh, this really needed to work.

Loki raised him up like that and the inventor managed another, "Deploy!" before he was thrown clear out the window. It shattered instantly under the god's strength before mark Xll flew through the air, knocking Loki right off his feet.

Tony was falling through the air outside and feeling the ice in his veins only getting colder. It chugged along slowly and it was hard to breath, that might have been the intense fear from the fall though, admittedly.

After way too long, or at least it felt like, he could hear the suit behind him. It was reading his bracelets and quickly latched onto him, but the ground was quickly approaching. This would be one hell of a close call.

The helmet finally snapped over his face, maybe ten feet from the ground at most and Jarvis's ever helpful voice sounded in his ears, "Sir, your temperature has dropped 3.4 degrees and is still falling."

"Well, so am I, buddy."

Tony 's thrusters ignited and he instantly flew back up to the tower, startling people that were still on the street., "Sorry!" He threw over his shoulder on the quick fly back up.

Quickly, he found the exact window. Tony hovered there, watching at Loki picked himself up off the floor. "Oh, and there's one other person you've pissed off. His name was Phil." Loki raised his scepter and Tony raised his hand. His repulsor blast was ready must faster and he fired, knocking Loki back, the scepter falling out of his hands.

This of course was all Tony had time for. "Sir, your temperature has fallen 4.8 digress."

WIth a groan, he took off to help the other Avengers, shivers raking through him. "Yes, Jarvis, I've noticed."

The pain from the jabs was worsening and Tony wasn't sure how much help he could be. Panting, he finally found the others and made sure they were okay.

The battle passed in a painful flash, all the while, Jarvis was keeping tabs on his temp and his shaking intensified. He felt like he was freezing and out here in the cold wind, even with his heated suit, it was unbearable.

When the nuke came through, his almost fevered mind came up with the idea much quicker than he could have hoped and calling Pepper turned out to be a dead end when she didn't answer.

By the time he entered the void, his temperature had dropped 10 degrees and was still falling. The cold of space cut him right to the bone and he let the nuke fly. He watched as it hit dead center on the enemy ship and watched the explosion as his suit shut down. The pain and the ice that was forming on the suit was to much for him as he quickly started to fall through the darkness.

Everything went dark and his thoughts reached beyond him. He heard a voice, a small and almost silent voice, in his mind. He replayed the entire confrontation with Loki and that expression on his face, the resignation about the Chitauri, it wouldn't vanish to the back of his mind.

Afghanistan was suddenly on his mind as his fall continued. The torture that clouded his eyes whenever he looked too deeply in the mirror, it was in Loki's eyes. Maybe that was the other part of the expression he couldn't place. The rage right under the surface as he thought about the ten rings was right there in Loki as well.

The voice in his mind whispered thoughts that couldn't be his own, a fight that he wasn't having.

He saw the hulk running towards him and his anger snapped. "Enough! All of you are beneath me." Standing back up, he swept his cape out of his way, trying to regain his composure. "I am a _god_ , you dull creature and I will not be bullied by-"

Hulk grabbed his ankle and he was beaten into the floor three times and then two more just for the fun of it.

He laid there in agony as the green berserker walked off, "Puny god."

The scream of Hulk startled him back to consciousness. "What the hell!"

Frantic, Tony looked around. He saw the Captain, Thor and Hulk all standing around with worried faces, even the Hulk seemed worried and that was certainly odd. "What just happened?"

Trying to bring some control back to the situation, Tony added, "Please tell me nobody kissed me."

The Captain smiled, that was a good sign, even if it was only there for a moment. "We won."

Tony sighed in relief, "Alright. yay. Alright, good job, guys. Let's just not come in tomorrow. Let's just take a day." Still on the ground, Tony was exhausted and he didn't even know what was coming out of his mouth. He was in so much pain, the shivering was back and he just needed to talk, anything to take his mind off the cold and the pain.

"Have you ever tried Shawarma? There's a Shawarma joint about two blocks from here. I don't know what it is, but I wanna try it."

Then of course, Thor had to ruin everything. Just like he always had, even since they were children. Huh, that was a strange thought. Okay, not going to think about that one.

"We aren't done yet."

Captain looked over his shoulder. "And then Shawarma after." Tony asked hopefully.

Apparently they weren't done, but there was no way Tony could do anything. "Guy's I hate to say it, but can someone else go capture Loki." Somehow, even with the dead weight of his armor, he managed to sit up. It definitely took all of his remaining strength. "twelve degrees, sir." Jarvis chimed in.

Thor nodded and began to wind him hammer. "He cannot be far."

Tony retracted his gauntlets and rubbed his face, rubbing his palm into his eye before pulling his hand over his face, "He's on the 56th floor. The Hulk beat him to a pulp. He won't be moving for a while."

Thor nodded and took off, but the comment caught Tony off guard and he just stared at his hand for a moment, Captain America noticed, "Stark, what is it?"

"Oh nothing." Tony said quickly. Just that was only a dream. There was no way...

" _I have Loki."_ Thor said through the comm and Tony's' eyes widened. How did he know where Loki was, that had just been a dream!

"Great, hold him until Shield gets there, I think Stark might need a hand getting home, maybe some medical attention.

" _I shall wait."_

"Come on, Tony." He said as he hauled himself up and holding his hands out to the man in the suit of armor. Only a second of staring lapsed before Tony took his hand. He stumbled forward, right into Steve's chest and groaned. "Damn, I think I might have broke something."

From his spot, Tony couldn't see Steve's eyes widen as his forehead connected with his uniform. Steve instantly pushed him back at arm's length. His eyes scanned the other man quickly before he reached out and placed his hand on Tony's forehead, as if checking for a fever."Tony, you're freezing."

The inventor managed to force out a sigh through his slightly chattering teeth. "Thanks, Cap, tell me something I don't know."

"Was it space?" He asked and Tony latched onto the easy explanation. "Yeah, probably. There's no heat out there, you know."

 **Notes: So, this is a thing. A thought jumped in my mind from a prompt, but i twisted it around a bit. I have almost a full story in mind too. Please review and tell me if you like where this is going. I have never tried my hand at FrostIron so here goes nothing. New territory, weeeeee.**


	2. Chapter 2

The steady beep of the heart monitoring machine grated on Tony's already frayed nerves. He was in his tower, because no way in hell was he going to a hospital. Eventually, Steve had become so worried that he would hurt himself in some irreversible way in his little 'temper tantrum' he had decided to at least make Tony stay here. Captain's orders, he had said. Tony did what he wanted. Except, obviously right now.

After the war was over and Thor informed them of Loki's capture, Steve had turned on Tony. He started all nice and offered to take him to the hospital, which had ignited a suffocating fear.

Loki had done something to him, he could already tell. The second the glowstick of destiny touched his arc reactor, his temperature began to drop. Currently, it was well past hypothermic levels and he knew that. He knew something was horribly wrong, but being poked and prodded at… It was a fate worse than death. Tony refused to become someone's science experiment. This not even going into what would happen if Shield found out.

Clint had told him what it was like at Shield when he was coming out of the mind control thing. He absolutely refused to be treated that way.

The very next thing Tony was conscious of was the very symbol of america drawing a heavy breath and hauling him onto his shoulder, grunting a bit from the weight. He hadn't even agreed!

"R-rogers, i mean it now, i really mean it! Put me _down!_ I am _not_ going to a hospital! I am not-"

"I'm taking you to your tower."

Well, that effectively took most of the fight out of Tony's already battered body. He was still very week, he still felt the ice crawling through his veins and the thrashing he had just done was all he could possibly manage.

"When we have Banner back, he will look you over, got me, Stark?" Steve told him in a stern voice.

The Hulk had long since taken off after apparently catching him during his fall back to planet Earth. God only knew how long it would take Banner to come back this time. It could be anywhere from hours, to weeks. Tony hoped for the later. Maybe it would give him some time to figure out what was happening to him, reverse it as well, if possible.

"Cap, i'll be fine after a nap and a few bandaids. Promise."

Steve rolled his eyes began all but dragging Tony to the tower as his mind screamed not to let anyone touch him. No exams, nothing. Shield couldn't find out.

Cue the machines and their beeping. Machines, most of which he built himself. He eyed them and muttered a soft, "Traitors, Daddy is very disappointed in you."

He has been sitting here for hours, just waiting for the green man to finally give him Banner back. It was obviously useless to try and talk Steve out of just letting him go to his room. All this time without anything to tinker with, nothing to distract him was honestly really bad for his sanity. He couldn't get the glow of the stick from his mind. To make matters worse, every time he closed his eyes, it was as if he was inside some kind of holding cell.

Everything about this situation was wrong. _He_ felt wrong. Everything was wrong with this situation.

Things eventually settled into a pattern. Tony would stare at his hands, noting his slightly blue fingertips and attempt to the best of his ability not to freak out. THe heart monitor would speed up and then he would have to take deep breaths to bring it back down. A few times Rogers ran in to check on him but that stopped after a while. Then the rambling started.

Tony rambled to Jarvis, who barely replied. Another traitor, surely. He told Jarvis way more than he should have and then would ask Jarvis to delete the file, only to be informed he didn't have access to the surveillance files. Just another thing to speed up his heart before he noticed his fingers once again and felt the bone deep chill, the ice water chugging through his veins.

"Sir, Dr. Banner is here." Not asking if he should be let in, if that's what Tony wanted, just allowing the other man in. It made the ice flowing through him clamp down further on his arteries.

The soft eyes of his buddy smiled at him as he took a step inside the room. He gestured his thumb to the ceiling awkwardly "Kind of spoils the surprise, doesn't it?" His eyes are warey, Steve must have talked to him. Greeaaatt.

Tony's glare was as cold as he was and Banner sighed, taking a few uncertain steps inside, hands slowly clasping behind his back, the floor suddenly taking his interest.

A deep sigh penetrated the room, "Bruce, just get on with it. I know why you're here. Steve's worried because he seems to think He's my mother and has some sort of say over anything I do."

An answering sigh sounded as Banner rubbed the back of his neck with one arm, raising his eyes. "He's just worried and from what he said," eyes darted to his blue tipped fingers a moment before continuing, "I understand why. I am worried too."

"Aw shucks, I'm so honored you two took time out of your day for Mr. Tony Stark. Where were you guys when I had that nuke in my hands? Where were you when…" His eyes widened and his mouth seemed to move on it's own, "I was falling through the Void, only to land in the hands of the Mad Titan, whispering words of revenge so sweet in my ear."

A pale hand clamped over his mouth and the look of worry doubled on Banner's face. "Okay, that about does it."

Banner cast his eyes around, looking for for a few items, thermometer, blood pressure cuff, the things a nurse would use for vitals. His worry was not hidden and Tony just looked down and away. He just gave them another reason to worry. Where had that even come from? Who was the Mad Titan?

Tony jerked back when his friend held the thermometer out for him. "Yeah, _no_. Let's not and say we did, huh, Bruce?"

Banner frowned, "Tony, I'm just performing a simple checkup. Heavens knows you need it right now."

"And _I_ said no. Wasn't there some law that i could refuse care or something?" he tried to tiptoe around the whole situation, pressing against the headboard of the hospital bed, both hands now moving again to cover his mouth. He knew what banner would find.

Banner sighed deeply and glanced around the room. "Oh, I see Jarvis took down your Iron man poster."

Tony's eyes went wide and he instantly turned to look, "He couldn't ha-" and that's how Banner got the thermometer in his mouth. Clever plan really. Tony knew when he had been beat. He turned back around, arms crossed tightly over his chest and glared icily at his 'friend'.

After a few moments, the machine was beeping. Banners brows drew down in confusion and he waved it around in the air. "We have to try this again. It gave me a bad reading."

"Yeah, it's totally wrong. What does it say, something ridiculous like 78 degrees?" Tony couldn't hold back his hysterical laugh. "Maybe we should buy a new one. Say what, you buy a new one and I'll just wait here and be good until you come back. Tomorrow sound good? 'Cause tomorrow sounds _amazing_ to me-"

"Dr. Banner," The traitorous AI started, "The thermometer is working fine. I have tracked a steady decline in Sir's body temperature since the Mark Xll was first deployed. It has dropped 20 degrees in a matter of four hours."

"What?! How is that possible! He should be dead!" in his, now even worse, worry, Banners ears turned a bit green. Looked like extreme emotions of any kind caused a change. Good to note.

Tony groaned and placed his head in his hands sitting up. This wasn't happening. He refused to become a science experiment. Flat out refused. So why was this shit happening? Why was Jarvis betraying him? Why were his fingers turning blue?!

"I have tracked the decline to the point where Mr Loki-"

"Jarvis, mute!" Tony demanded. The AI went silent and Banners eyes returned to Tony's, angry and confused. The thoughts and emotions were as clear as the written word across his face and this made Tony wince ever so slightly. Bruce was smart enough to put two and two together. Oh, when he was done with Jarvis...

"Loki did this?"

Tony sighed deeply and glanced to the side. Great, just great. Well, off to Shield we go.

"Yeah. I'm in my own mind though." He added turning back and pulling his eyes open with his fingers. "See, still brown." Or at least he hoped. Apparently from Bruce's expression, he had gambled correctly.

Banner walked forward and sat down on the edge of Tony's bed. His eyes traveled up and down, taking in his pale complexion, his dark eyes, everything that Tony expected was there. Quickly, Stark hid his face in his hands, rubbing his palm into his right eye. It stung for just a second before he looked back up at Bruce. He hadn't vanished. This was still happening. Bruce's eyes lingered for a moment on his own.

An uncertain hand reached out and his expression asked for permission. Tony sighed his acceptance. It was a funny way of talking, but not altogether ineffective.

Bruce pulled out a small flashlight and clicked it on with his thumb. It was small and compact, the exact thing an actual medical doctor would carry around.

The flashlight was then flicked in his eyes, a look of absolute concentration on his face, before Bruce shifted and pulled his lip between his teeth in a nervous gesture. He saw something.

"Your eyes are fine," he began with, obviously in a placating manner, the calm before the storm, the good news first or whatever, as he put his flashlight back in his pocket. "They are responsive to the light, but you must have broken a blood vessel. The sclera is red."

Tony frowned and pulled his hand up, rubbing the heel of his hand in his eye once again, as if that would fix it.

Banner grabbed his arm and pulled it back, "Don't, you could make it worse."

Tony glared with his one, apparently, red eye. He turned to look over at a screen that was currently turned off, wishing he had a mirror. A nervous cough pulled him back as the red overtook his entire right eye. Bruce couldn't hold his gaze. He clasped his hands in his lap and glanced at the floor.

"Great, so now I'm some kind of human ice cube with a red eye. Great. Just great." he groaned and put his face into his hands, doubling over. Could today get any worse? Oh wait, yes it could.

A moment later Banner's hands were on his arm, attaching the blood pressure cuff and clicking a button. Tony didn't acknowledge the pain, just staring as his blue tipped fingers and feeling the ice in his veins. A sudden zing flitting across and making them twitch slightly as a tingling warmth spread through them for a second.

Once done with the rest of his vitals, Banner pulled back and looked over his friend.

"When are you going to have Shield take me away?" Tony asked quietly.

Banner sighed and pulled off his glasses, rubbing his face. "You know this isn't an easy call for me."

"Yet you're still making it."

"I have to. My job is to keep you safe and healthy," he gestured with his glasses and placed them back on his face.

"Yeah, buddy. I get it."

"Get some sleep, Tony. I have a few unpleasant calls to make."

"Yeah, yeah sure." he sighed closing his eyes as he said this and scootched deeper into the bed covers. What else could he do?

He listened as Banner stood up and took his leave. Thoughts flew through his mind and he had the urge to see Loki and to demand to know what was going on and what the hell was happening to him. Though, maybe he should wear sunglasses, because he didn't want that psycho to know he'd burst a blood vessel over his antics. That seemed to much like giving him a victory.

Tony sighed deeply and slipped to sleep, green energy zinging and arcing from one finger to the other.

 **I hope this is a good second chapter. I am working hard and I am so glad that people are liking what I'm writing. I just keep getting small plot bunnies and I want to pet and feed them, watch them grow. You know what it's like?**

 **Anyway, review! I love reviews. They make my day and make me feel like I'm accomplishing something here. Thanks guys!**


	3. Chapter 3

Scuffling sounds and the constant beeping of the machines lulled the man to sleep, and a deep sleep at that. Dreams and memories flooded his mind, all of it confusing jumbled. Tony couldn't make heads or tails of what it was that he was seeing with the colors swirling, images forming into one another. He swore he saw Thor more than once

Eventually the images began to slow. One stood out and Tony frantically reached towards it for some semblance of order.

Once his pale fingertips brushed it, he was instantly falling into it. He landed in a heap, the rocks in the dirt digging into his hand. After a second of dragging his nails through the dirt, his eyes shot up and zeroed in on a man standing above him. The most notable thing about him was the sneer on his face.

The large man above him was wielding an axe. The thing was easily twice the size of his head and far longer then was necessary. The sneer changed and the man began to laugh at him. He even had the gall to set his weapon aside, as if Tony was no threat to him. The man cockily held out his hand for Tony to grab, but a savage snarl pulled from the engineer's lips.

" _Spare me your fake mercies. I have not lost yet."_ Tony heard himself spit at him and he rolled back, gaining the momentum needed to jump back to his feet.

Once standing, Tony reached for his daggers and held them defensibly as he circled the larger man. He hunched over a bit as his eyes scanned for weak points. The man just laughed, hauling up his axe and setting it on one large meaty shoulder.

"You resort once again to your woman's weapons? Why don't you fight like a man?"

" _Big words coming from a great ox such as yourself."_

Tony ran forward, taking the man by surprised and slashing, only to be caught by the axe. He was shoved back, but the momentum behind that push was something he could use. Tony used it to twist around and ended up behind him.

The other man swung his weapon in a wide arch, clashing down on Tony's waiting, crossed daggers. The engineer was again forced back several feet and knocked to one knee. A snarl on his lips, he shoved the axe off and away from himself. Struggling for air, Tony stood back up, knee scuffed by ignored.

"Run away, coward. Just as you always do. You are beaten."

Anger flared inside of Tony and he ran once again, getting right up into the ugly ox's face, pulling upon his magic and forcing the man back and down with a simple spell. He laughed maniacally and placed his hands on his hips.

" _Beaten am I?"_

"Brother! The use of magic on the training field is cheating!"

Tony's eyes turned back to the stands he hadn't noticed in his blind fury and he glared at a younger Thor. His hair was longer, his body leaner. His eyes held an innocence Tony had never seen in them.

The Ox behind him grunted. "Yes, save your woman's arts for the bed chambers."

Tony felt something snap inside him at these words and whirled back around, throwing his daggers. His daggers never missed.

They cut through the Ox's hair and sliced his cheek, before Tony jumped on the man. The spell that had bound the man released him as Tony held one of his daggers to his throat.

" _What did you say? You dare insult a prince of Asgard in such a way?!"_ Tony hissed

Suddenly, as suddenly as it had come, the dream shattered around him. Instantly, the world turned black around Tony once again. The deepest part of the darkness formed into a shape, swirling around until a fairly human form was in front of him. Green eyes glowed from the darkness.

" _Get out."_ was said far too calmly for the anger that seemed to radiate off the new, but familiar presence in his dream. Tony held up his hands in a harmless, surrender gesture.

"Loki? What the hell?"

Green eyes narrowed and he grabbed the mortal man by the neck. Once brought closer, He could see the insanity in those eyes, could see the hurt and pain. It was obviously Loki. The mad god was not a person that Tony could ever forget. A dark smile graced his lips. It was sharp, like the daggers from the dream and held no trace of happiness. This was exactly like the time Tony had been thrown out the window. He was going to be thrown out the window again, but this time without the mark VII to save him. Tony screamed as he sat straight upright on the bed.

He gasped for breath, hands going around his neck, checking for anything. Checking for any sign that those long fingered hands had been around his neck once again. Tony's eyes slipped closed in relief as he leaned back on the bed he was currently on.

Once reassured, his eyes took in the foreign room around him. It definitely wasn't his medical room back in the tower. This room was dim and mostly bare, hard concrete covering every wall. No windows. It felt almost like a cell. The temperature was abhorrent as well. It was hot in here, far too hot.

The door banged open the very next second. In strolled none other then Nick Fury and Tony instantly cursed himself for forgetting that Bruce was selling him out. Irritation flooded his system and a small tingling started at his fingertips, seeping into his spine. Fury's eye narrowed, he turned to face Tony, coming to a stop at the base of his bed.

The dream still clinging to him, Tony felt his hackles rise. Something he never really did before as he drew up the blanket, as if to shield himself.

"Mr. Stark, if you don't mind, there are a few things I wish you would illuminate me on. Like the fact that you didn't tell anyone that our friendly neighborhood psychopathic mind controlling alien used his magic stick on you!" Each word grew progressively louder until he was right up in Tony's face, screaming at him. He even had the gall to have walked around to Tony's left to do so.

Tony felt a growl low in his throat, but he bit it off. He wasn't some animal. He could talk this out like a normal adult. He shook his head briefly, to clear it, before running his hands over his face. "Nick, can you tone it down a notch. I just woke up." Despite himself, it came out as a whine.

Fury's gaze hardened before he through a fonder right into Tony's lap. A few pages spilled out, showing Tony what he needed to know without even having to touch the damned thing.

"Slowed heart beat, severely lowered body temperature, possible early stages of frostbite on your fingers, lowered blood oxygen rates, erratic sleeping patterns, and we still have no idea what's going on with that red eye of yours! Sleep aside, this cannot wait until you are good and ready, Stark!" Fury looked away for a moment, taking a second the read the machines they had Tony hooked up to before he sighed deeply.

"Tony, we need to know what happened. We can't even access the video surveillance from your building. You're AI won't let us in."

A satisfied smirk appeared on Tony's face. Good job Jarvis. Maybe he wouldn't scrap the traitorous AI after all.

"Tony, what happened?"

Looking down at his blue tipped fingers, Tony sighed deeply. "I dunno Nick, why don't you ask the one who's actually responsible for all this? Or has our psychopathic mind controller flown the coop?"

Fury's face was icy, "We already attempted to interrogate him, but he's not saying a word. All we got is you."

"I guess we will never know then, because I certainly don't know what the fuck is going on." Tony's eyes closed for a moment as he shook his hands, as if trying to get the feeling to come back in the tips. He frowned after a moment and started to fan his face with the folder in his lap, overdramatically, just for effect. "Also, mind turning down the heat? It's boiling in here."

Fury's eye grew wide before he schooled his expression. He pressed a finger to his ear, no doubt an earpiece that the others had been listening in on the conversation through, before he replied curtly.

"It is 68 degrees in this room, Mr. Stark."

Now it was Tony's turn to look surprised. His brown eyes drifted back down to his hands. The blue on his fingertips looked slightly more pronounced he noticed and his cuticles were black. His brows drew together in confusion. He flexed his fingers, watching, inspecting. They moved just like they always did, but his fingerprints did look a little different. A light line swirled around a couple times in the very center before tailing up to about his forearm. The light lines were white where his skin was its normal color.

He ran his fingertips across and down the line before frowning. It had a texture, it was raised.

Looking back up at Fury, he noticed the other had been watching everything that had transpired. His frown was deeper if that was even possible and barely concealed worry flashed in his good eye.

"Tony-"

"I know, alright?!" Tony snapped before reining himself back in. He tried once more. "I know something's happening, but I don't know what. Loki touched his scepter to my chest, but acted disappointed, like nothing happened. It was… painful and then he tried again, saying something about how it usually works."

Repeating the same drill as with Bruce, Tony pulled his one still brown eye open. "But look, no blue. I'm still me. He's not in my head, Nick."

Fury sighed and pushed his hands into his pockets. "Stark, we will need your surveillance of this incident to try and figure all this out."

Tony only considered that for a moment. He couldn't give SHEILD the override codes for Jarv, who knew what all they would take with no one watching over their shoulders. No, he would have to get them for him instead. "Once I'm up and about, I'll get them for you."

"Stark," Fury warned, drawing out his name.

"Nick, seriously, trust me here. I'll get you the footage."

With a sigh, Fury nodded, accepting this for now. At least it looked that way. It was always hard to tell with that man.

Twisting his mouth a moment, Tony glanced around the room again. He didn't know how to phrase his request so that it wouldn't cause even more suspicion. At the same time, though, he had to ask. It seemed important, even more so after that dream.

"I need…. I would also like to question Loki."

"Stark," again with the drawn out version of his name. Like a scolding father. What did he think that because Howard was dead he had the authority to father Tony? No, he didn't. Tony's eyes narrowed, but this was more important right now.

"Nick, this is important. Loki might know what happened."

"And he might not say anything. It might even give him some sort of power over you. You said yourself he thought it hadn't worked. We know nothing about this."

Throwing up his own arms, Tony snarled. "Then send in my brother! Surely he would know what's going on!"

A dark look settled on Fury's face. "Do you mean Thor?" He had caught the slip even if Tony didn't seem to.

" _Yes._ Isn't that what i just said?!"

Shaking his head, Fury walked towards the door. Before walking out, he turned. "It isn't. You called him Brother. Just like a certain someone we both know."

And with that, Nick fury left with more questions than answers. Tony stared after him.

"What the fuck


	4. Chapter 4

Watching Fury leave, Tony was for once speechless. No words came to his lips. He had no explanations and no excuses as his eyes drifted down to his blue fingers.

What? Seriously _what_ the fuck? Brother? No. He'd said Thor. He had to have. There was no way he could have slipped up like that. He was an only child for God's sake! He never even had a brother!

Fury must have misheard. That was the only solution. QED. The end of this equation. He could not have said it.

Then why was it bothering him so much?

Tony thought back to the dream. The dream about Loki. No, not just _about_ Loki, but _as_ Loki.

Fuck, he just had to get out of here. Run his own tests. Get to the bottom of this before he was turned into some kind of guinea pig. Before they forget he was human. Like they've done with Barton and Banner.

Barton was still on probation until he finished his therapy and they were certain that bastard was no longer in his head. No weapons, no shooting rang, no missions, forced to be idle while they looked over his session tapes.

They didn't trust him. He was compromised, just like Tony. By the same enemy in fact.

Tony already hadn't trusted SHEILD and then you threw in this shit? No, he had hacked their servers ages ago and more than once. SHEILD left them in the dark far too often for him not to. What with the tesseract weapons and who knows what other under the table sales.

They were a government agency. All of them, every single one had dirty deals so why would he ever believed SHEILD was any different. If Obie taught him anything, it was to always be suspicious.

As such, he also knew where on the helicarrier both Barton and Loki were being kept. Maybe Barton would hop on the revenge bandwagon and give him a hand. This is Loki after all.

Loki, Tony needed to see that son of a bitch. He needed to demand that Loki fix whatever he had done. Set him right as rain. Take this fucking blue away! Why blue anyway? Like, the fuck? Red is so much cooler. The best color in fact.

With a deep breath, Tony forced himself to calm. The machines were starting to beep in time with his anger again. He didn't need to alert the whole damn place what he was thinking and doing in here.

He had to get out of here. One way or another, but he only knew the escape routes for the helicarrier. Hopefully, that was where he was. On the helicarrier and not in some remote facility. Why would they take him anywhere else? Wasn't the helicarrier like their MO or whatever?

Swinging his legs over the side of the bed, Tony struggled to stand up, hissing at the heat of the floor. It was so sudden that he ended up falling right back into the bed. It's not like he had expected that. Damn, he winced, pulling his feet up and rubbing them. Soothing the burn, but of course that's when he noticed he didn't just have that color on his hands.

God damn it! Now his toes were turning blue too! In fact, the same blue was crawling up his ankles as well. The white raised lines sweeping up and around his calf in some sort of tribal looking pattern. One he'd never seen before and despite how hot the floor had just been, his feet felt like ice, even to his cold hands.

Now this was a dilemma. Have to get out, but can't touch the floor? It's like that game of 'The Floor is Lava' he used to play in Howard's workshop. God damn.

Leaning back in his bed, he spotted one of a couple cameras he knew had to be positioned in this room. His face twitched as he struggled to hold in a snarl. Instead he did something much more Tony like. With a smirk, he flipped off the camera. He knew the emotion behind it didn't meet his eyes and neither was it remotely genuine, but what else could he do? He had to try and stay himself after all.

What the fuck was all of this?! He shouldn't have to try to be Tony! He was Tony!

Slamming his head back, he hit the headboard and hissed. His hands flew up to press on the quickly growing goose egg he had just caused. He didn't think he had flung himself that hard. Something else new. Apparently he didn't know his own strength.

His fingers pulled back bloody. Oh fucking great! Now this!

Tony couldn't hold it in anymore as wordless rage flew from his mouth, his hands clamped over his head.

Really? He really needed this right now too? Really?!

The machines started to beep faster and faster as his anger solidified. His fingers grew warm and what he couldn't see, but the cameras could, was a faint green glow appearing around them.

The energy, unlike with Loki's magic, acted a bit more like electricity. It arced off his fingers and danced from one to the next. Every second that passed growing brighter.

Tony slipped into a sort of trance, not out of intention. Everything seemed to fall away except for this one thing. This one part of this fucked up mess he could actually fix.

The green energy moved on and latched onto his scalp. The skin began to sew itself back together as the blood retreated to where it belonged.

In no time at all, the injury was gone and Tony was blinking steadily.

Shaking his head hard, he tried to clear it from the weird fog that had slipped over him. A groan slipped from his lips and he put his head in his hands.

Wait… what?

Tony blinked a few more times and rubbed his head, finding no trace of the mark. Unsteadily, he pulled back his fingers, staring at them.

Oh god. Did he just…

No. No. It didn't fucking happen. No.

Even as he watched, small arcs of the green energy sparked.

It only took him a second to realize that the camera must have seen everything and he instantly hid his hands under the blanket.

Oh Fuck no. No. What the Fuck was he supposed to do?! What the Fuck was going on?!

The machines whirled around him as his heart rate skyrocketed.

They'd seen everything. He could never get away now. They'd seen everything and have it on tape too. That was it. His life was over. Just like that. Poof, goodbye life. Goodbye everything that had ever made sense. It winked out of existence like it never happened. His whole life struggle. He survived Afghanistan for this?!

The door banged open once again and Tony kept his head down. He didn't want this to happen. He didn't want to end up like Barton or worse, like Banner. And let's not forget the possibility that he ended up worse than either of them. Or dead.

"Tony," a soft and familiar voice tried to call to him.

Tony, though, was too far gone. The green was sparking sporadically at his fingertips in response to his distressed state. His chest hurt. It was tight and he couldn't get a grip on himself.

The tears started then. He couldn't hold them back. He was shaking and sobbing on the bed. It was just too much. Too much to handle. This whole day or day and a half? He didn't know.

He had no fucking idea how long it had been. It seemed like the aliens had attacked only hours ago and he hadn't seen a single clock since he had woken up in that fucking crater in the street, rambling about shawarma.

It was too fucking much all at fucking once.

"Tony?" came the voice again, "Tony, it's just a panic attack. Tony…" a solid hand grabbed his own and the sparks attacked it at first but the contact stayed constant. It stayed warm. Almost too warm. It became his anchor and soon he could pull himself out of the panic and fear. Fuck, so much fear.

He needed it. He needed that hand and when Tony looked up, it was right into kind brown eyes. Where were his glasses? Of course he didn't wear them all the time. He didn't have to or something. Maybe they were just for reading. They added to the whole bookish scientist thing he had going on.

Suddenly a thought struck him out of nowhere. I wonder what happens to them when he transforms. Seeing the Hulk in reading glasses would be too funny.

"That's it Tony," Bruce Banner smiled.

"Thanks," came out breathlessly before he could even remember what had caused his whole episode and groaned. He pulled his hand back and put his head in his blue tinged hands. A groaned pulled from his lips.

"They got me, Bruce. On tape and everything. I-I don't even know what will happen now?" he laughed a bitter laugh as a few more tears slid down his cheeks. He was calmer, but the overwhelming fear was barely being kept at bay.

"No they didn't," Banners voice held a smirk and that is what forced Tony to look back up at him.

He saw a confident smirk on the face of his most timid friend. His friend with huge anger issues. You could almost say hulking anger issues.

So what if he used humor for deflection. Sue him.

"I deleted the files and placed the cameras on loop. It was my turn to keep watch after all."

One brown and one red eye stared at his friend, uncomprehendingly.

"I won't let them do what they did to me to anyone else. Not if it's in my power to stop it."

Mouth agape and with no words once again, Tony couldn't remember a time he been rendered more speechless. More then even after the slipped up name incident with Fury earlier. Banner just… no way. He was safe? No one saw? No one could ever see?

His gaze slid back down to his fingers and noticed the green shit was gone. His fingers were back to blue tinted normalcy.

Turning his hand over, he noticed the white lines were slightly more pronounced but nothing else was out of the ordinary.

Tired eyes slipped closed and Tony slumped forward. No longer able to hold himself up. One eye popped open and stared at Banner, who was still sitting there, looking more confident than the other had ever seen him.

"Thank you," came out, again as a breath and Tony sat up against the headboard.

Bruce smiled down at him and took his hand once again. "You have friends here, Tony. Don't forget that. I wasn't the only one in that room. Steve was the first one to notice what was going on. He told me to come once I looped it. You're not alone."

Again, speechless, Tony just nodded. His free hand went to scratch the back of his head.

"Well, this is getting a little too mushy for me, but thanks. Truly," Tony smiled.

"Anytime. Truly," Banner smirked, stealing his word.

Eyeing the room for a moment, Tony took a deep breath and pulled his hand away, gesturing around wildly. He had to do something with his hands after all.

"Well, anyway. What the _fuck_ do we do now?! I'm no expert on this mojo shit and I'm kinda trapped in here…"

Banners smile faded a little as he thought about their current predicament.

Tony started to tap his fingers, impatiently. He chewed the inside of his lip, gaze drifting.

"I need to see Loki." Tony couldn't stand silences and broke it in less than three minutes.

Banner's brown eyes drifted back to his own. "Tony, I'm not sure how good of an idea that is."

Tony spread his hands and frowned. "It's all I've got. He started this. Logically, he should be able to end it."

"But who's to say he won't use it against you or something?"

"I don't know. I don't know, but I have to start somewhere if I'm going to make this right. If I'm going to make me right."

With a sigh, Banner conceded the point with a small hand gesture.

Tony couldn't help it when a smile fell onto his face. "You said you looped the video feed, right?"

A slow nod.

"Well, how about you help me houdini my way out of this place?"

 **Hope you liked. Tell me what you thought. Reviews make me turn into a ball of shyness with blushing and everything.**


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